Scarlet's Brood
by Ghidorah16
Summary: A praetorian alien with a scarlet crest becomes a Queen when her hive is destroyed. Chapter 8: The story ends when Hooks leads an army of 350 predators to Scarlet's hive.
1. The Red Queen

****

Scarlet's Brood

Chapter 1: The Red Queen

The day had started like no other. Scarlet lived with her mother and sisters in a hive deep underground. She was a praetorian alien, one of the most powerful breeds of her species. A genetic mutation had made a portion of her crown red instead of black, which improved her status in the hive. She was her mother's favorite daughter.

However, the serenity of the hive was about to be destroyed. A group of humans had been sent to Scarlet's home world in search of her species, specifically a praetorian or queen alien. They were armed with state of the art technology, specifically designed to fight aliens. The humans entered Scarlet's hive and were immediately met by hundreds of alien soldiers. The two forces clashed in the center of the battlefield, a small band of humans quickly made their way past into the farthest reaches of the hive, where the praetorians and the Queen were.

Suddenly an alien started screeching as it seemingly exploded. Many more soldiers on both sides were being torn apart by this invisible force, which the alien spores soon revealed to be none other than a pack of predators. Now a three-way battle was taking place in the middle of the battlefield.

Scarlet decided to join the fight and prove her loyalty to her mother. She was running towards the chaotic battle when an electro-net wrapped around her. The xenomorph screamed in confusion as the humans who had set up the trap quickly carried her away, back up towards the surface.

Meanwhile, a single predator had also made his way past the battle. He was going for a far bigger prize. His armor was different from the other predators in his hunting pack, which made sense since he was the clan leader. The most notable difference were his four gargantuan hooks, two on each gauntlet. The predator hacked and sliced his way through the alien eggs, making his way towards the queen. The queen saw this threat and sent her praetorian daughters to dispose of the predator. The clan leader smiled and easily killed them, making his way towards the queen.

The queen prepared to punch the predator, but before she could the predator hacked off her arm. He then impaled her other arm with a spear, leaving the queen with only her scrawny second pair of arms at her disposal. The queen tried to slash the predator with her tail, but he moved too fast and soon had two of his hooks in her neck. The predator chuckled beneath his helmet and tore off the queen's head. The hunt was successful.

Scarlet had been knocked unconcious during her struggles with the electro-net. She woke up, now inside a holding cell in a human ship as they were preparing to lift off. The praetorian xenomorph felt something stir in her body. She held herself together as a cocoon began to form around her. The alien felt herself grow larger... and larger... and larger.

Scarlet emerged from her cocoon a few minutes later to find that many things had changed in her body. She had an extra pair of arms, her crest had grown greatly in size (more so than the rest of her body), and legs were larger and longer to support her great weight. Scarlet had become a queen.

She surveyed her surroundings. She noticed that there was an electric barrier between her and her prey: the pilots. Scarlet tried to fins anything that might lead to a way out. One thing caught her eye: a small grid of different colored buttons. Scarlet snarled and punched the grid, which cause the electric barrier to flicker. Scarlet punched it again, which caused the barrier to go out briefly. Scarlet now knew where to apply the force. She punched the grid until it began to pop out of its socket. She then grabbed the loose portions on the grid and tore them out, wires and all. The electric barrier went out completely.

The copilot looked behind him to see what was causing all the ruckus. All he saw was a dark hallway, once lit by the electric fence, and an approaching set of glimmering white fangs.

"B...b...Bob? Bob? Bob? Bob? Bob?! Bob?!! BOB!!!" the copilot screamed, his voice growing in tension.

The pilot turned around to see what his copilot was yammering about. Scarlet stepped out of the shadows. The queen alien grabbed the copilot by his legs and threw him into the wall. She then punched the pilot, sending him flying. The spaceship was now hurtling down towards Scarlet's home. This caused the three soldiers that had captured her, still in their armor, to come up. What they saw was one huge queen alien and two unconcious pilots. They turned on their electronic stun spears and prepared to subdue their quarry.

Scarlet grabbed one of the spears and impaled its owner with it. She then grabbed one of the other soldiers and tore off his head with her bare hands. The remaining human tried to escape, but scarlet extended her second mouth and bit his shoulder. The xenomorph pulled him back towards her main set of jaws, held him with her small pair of arms, and took a huge bite out of his shoulder. The man screamed as his arm fell off, no longer attached to his body. Scarlet dropped the man onto the ground as the spacecraft landed a few yards outside of her hive.

Scarlet stepped out of the shuttle, carrying the three remaining members of the spaceship's crew. She looked at her hive, and soon she realized the amount of damage that had been done. Countless dead bodies surrounded the area, most of which no longer had skulls. Scarlet sensed that not a single member of her clan had survived, save herself. The queen dragged her unconcious victims into what was now her hive, and began to lay eggs. She would rebuild the hive, make it stronger. The world would soon learn to fear the red queen.


	2. A Stronger Hive

****

Chapter 2: A Stronger Hive

Three years had past. Scarlet had created thousands of eggs to populate her hive. But most of the animals in the forest above her hive were far too weak to make good aliens. By now Scarlet had only ten aliens at her disposal: three warriors from her escape from the shuttle, three drones and four praetorian aliens she had made from some of the natural fauna. But she wanted stronger aliens.

It just so happened that a zoologist from earth had arrived at Scarlet's planet in search of new discoveries. He and his team of seven other scientists landed a dozen yards outside of Scarlet's nest, along with some pit bulls for protection. He wandered off into the woods while the others were setting up camp.

The scientist soon found the huge, deep burrow that was the entrance to the hive. He began his walk into the hive, unaware of what he had found. The warrior xenomorphs that guarded the entrance watched him carefully, hiding in the darkness. The queen had laid eggs in the tunnel itself, which made the journey into the main room of the hive even more dangerous. The zoologist soon discovered one of these traps and peered into it for examination. The egg opened, and soon the scientist was facehugged.

The warriors carried the comatose human to Scarlet. The queen looked at what was soon to be her newest warrior. If there was one human, then there were definitely more. Scarlet ordered the three warriors to find as many humans as they could.

Night had fallen. The research team was telling stories by the campfire, unaware of the fate that had befallen their leader. Something in the shadows stirred. The three warriors were watching, waiting to make their move. One human decided that she wanted to go for a stroll in the woods. She walked off as the others continued to chatter.

One warrior followed her as the others remained and watched. A few minutes later the third warrior returned, carrying his prey back to the hive. The two were alone again. They wanted to make sure they got every human there, and if they just invaded the camp some of the humans could get away in the chaos. The aliens then noticed the two huge dogs that the humans had brought. They wondered if the queen would like them also. One warrior quickly dashed towards the dogs, which were sleeping, and dragged them off to the hive. There was now only one warrior watching the humans.

Hours passed, and soon the humans began to worry about their missing companions. They split up into groups of two and began to search the forest. By now the other warriors had returned, and they also split up to follow their human prey. By daybreak the camp was deserted.

The disappearance of the research team, not to mention the team that had been sent three years earlier to capture a praetorian alien, had caught the attention of the United State military. A small platoon of marines was sent to the planet, and just a few moments after they set foot on the ground they were ambushed. Then another, larger group had been sent, and met with the same results. No group dared to go to the planet after these four disappearances. The planet now had a reputation as being haunted.

Meanwhile, the hive had grown tremendously. The numerous humans that had visited Scarlet's planet caused the warrior alien population to grow exponentially, making 43 warriors in all. They also brought some fierce beasts with them, allowing the hive to create even stronger aliens, most of which guarded the queen. The population of drones and other weaker aliens had also grown greatly, making an overall total of 167 aliens. But Scarlet was still thirsty for more power. She needed stronger aliens.

A clan of predators, led by a predator with hooks on his gauntlets, had heard of the "cursed planet" from which no traveler had returned. It was a planet that they had already hunted on. They decided to hunt there again, since there was some beast on the planet that could provide them sport. Besides, the clan leader wanted his son to learn the ways of the hunt.

The clan began their trek to Scarlet's homeworld


	3. Hooks

****

Chapter 3: Hooks

Scarlet had almost forgotten the day her mother had been killed. Almost. Little did the power hungry alien know that the same force that had wiped out her mother and the rest of her family would fight her again today. She could only think of her thriving pack and how it needed to become stronger.

Outside of the nest, three pods landed on the planet. They were followed by a huge, floating craft known throughout the universe as a predator "shrine", the structure that allowed a pack of predators to communicate with their mothership. The pods opened to reveal three predators, one hunter and two brawlers. Three brawlers turned on their cloaking mechanisms and went in search of the beast/beasts that had made this planet so uninhabitable. The hunter, seeing as he had a higher status, stayed behind to protect the shrine.

The brawlers raced through the forest, looking for anything that might be a trail left by the mysterious monster. After some searching they found a huge pool of blood connected to a smaller river of it, probably formed when the creature that had been wounded had been dragged off by its foe. It was a fresh trail, so the predators followed it.

The blood led to a large burrow, big enough for the predators to stand in and then some. They made sure their cloaking was on and continued their pursuit. They're thermal goggles detected no warm-blooded animal as of yet, so either their quarry was yet to be found or it was cold-blooded. It didn't matter, since they were invisible and would see or hear their prey before it found them.

Suddenly one of the brawlers' cloaking went down. He tried to turn it back on, but it wouldn't. His companion's cloaking also went down. He looked around until he spotted a large black object with a glowing green spot: an alien hive node. Hive nodes produce "spores" that not only heal aliens when their wounded but also covers alien prey, shutting off defense such as cloaking and alerting every alien to the possible prey item. This time the predators were the prey.

One brawler radioed the hunter at the shrine for back up, telling him that the monsters on the planet were aliens. As he was finishing his message he heard a scurrying sound. The two predators looked around for the source, but neither was experienced enough in combating aliens to think of looking above them. On the ceiling there were three warrior xenomorphs, waiting for the right time to strike. One warrior quietly crawled down till he was behind the predators and started the attack. Both turned to face him, unaware of the two behind them. They swiftly killed the xenomorph only to be wounded by the other two. The predators swiftly turned around and chopped their opponents to bits. One xenomorph let out a howling screech as it fell. The brawlers began collecting their skulls when they heard another sound. It was faint but growing closer, as though hundreds of animals were running towards them.

The battle was on.

The clan leader heard the message and smiled (or whatever the predator equivalent to smiling is). Aliens were always good sport. They were strong monsters and required many special cares: acid proof armor and weapons, advanced cloaking mechanisms, and many strong warriors. This was the perfect hunt to bring his son on.

As the clan put on their special armor, the leader told them their mission: each predator was to bring back as many alien skulls as they could get. On predators with twenty or more skulls were allowed on the ship. Failure would result in death or abandonment. Nobody but the leader was allowed to kill the queen. The clan leader had a fondness for queen alien skulls, already owning eighty-seven. He wanted to make it one hundred. His son was amongst the thirty predators going on this mission.

The predators roared in unison and headed down to the planet.

The brawlers had their hands full. They were now fight swarms of aliens with only their wrist blades at their disposal, which proved to be a weighty task. One of the predators sliced through and aliens stomach, only to have the creature pull his left arm into the wound. The predator screamed as he lost the appendage then collapsed on the floor with pain. Some of the aliens dragged the still living predator off as the rest focused on their remaining foe. The brawler growled and hacked at his opponents; he wouldn't be able to fend them off for long.

Just as the brawler began to lose hope, reinforcements arrived. The clan leader was now fighting side by side with the brawler, an honor that he wouldn't forget. Soon they depleted enough alien troops to force them into retreat.

The brawler told his clan leader how the battle had gone, and how the aliens had dragged off his companion. When he was finished the leader stated that whoever brought the skull of the fallen predator back would be rewarded, for being captured alive by your foe was a mortal sin in predator society. Predators either won their battles or died during them, there was no in between.

The clan descended into the hive. Besides the clan leader, his son, and the average brawler troops, there were also some specialized predators in the pack. There was a disk master; a predator who uses mind controlled bladed disks to kill its prey. There was also a hydra predator that was armed with six rocket launchers on his back, a few spear masters (the name tells all), and a few more hunter predators that were armed with large, dual bladed spears that looked a lot like shaolin spades. The troop eventually reached the egg chamber.

There were all the aliens that had run away before, lined up in front of the precious eggs. The first wave of brawlers charged into battle without the leader's consent. They soon paid for their insolence when the aliens stepped aside, allowing the eggs to open and release their facehuggers. Five predators were now as good as dead. The leader ordered the Hydra to blast the remaining eggs with some rockets, which allowed the predators to attack without being killed. Most of the aliens charged, pissed that they had lost some of their bretheren. A few aliens stayed behind and dragged off the facehugged predators to a safe distance.

The disk master was the first to achieve the goal of getting twenty alien skulls, followed by the clan leader. The chief didn't care that he had gotten second place. He only wanted one thing: the queen's skull. His mission accomplished, he passed through the alien ranks and proceeded to hack away at the unguarded eggs, killing every alien that tried to stop him from finding the queen.

At last he had reached his quarry. Scarlet hissed at the visitor, releasing her egg sack. Her favorite praetorian daughter quickly attacked the predator, who chopped her into pieces. Scarlet watched the mutilation of her daughter and screamed with fury, unknowingly releasing a pheromone. The other praetorians suddenly wrapped themselves into cocoons as Scarlet fought the clan leader.

Scarlet proved to be stronger prey than the clan leader was used to; in fact, she was the strongest and smartest alien queen he had faced! He tried to slice her with his hooks, but she knew better. Whenever he attacked she would back away; moving so swift and agile that it seemed unnatural for a beast of her size. She constantly led him towards eggs, hoping that the facehuggers would finish him off. But he dodged most attacks and sliced through the eggs, focusing on the queen. The leader began to grow irritated, for he wasn't used to being so closely matched. He tried to make one powerful attack with his hooks, but the strong assault missed and left him open for attack. Scarlet punched him with all her might at this one point of weakness, sending him flying towards an egg. The predator was unconscious, and soon a facehugger melted off the face of his helmet and implanted its embryo.

By now Scarlet's fight had attracted the attention of the other predators. All seven spear masters and the hydra began to assault the queen, for her skull would surely be a great trophy. But just as they had her cornered, the praetorians emerged from their cocoons.

Scarlet's daughters had grown to be almost as big as their mother. They had changed greatly; their bodies were different shades of blue, the spines on their backs had become jagged, their armor had become harder and more elaborate looking. However, the biggest change was in their arms. Each hand had been replace by huge, praying mantis-like claws.

The predators changed their target from the queen to the new aliens. One predator tried to impale them, only to be decapitated. Normally an alien wouldn't kill its prey outright, but rather render it comatose and let an egg finish the job. These blue aliens were different. They quickly began to slice through the spear masters, mutilating their bodies in a flury of green blood. The Hydra stood back and prepared to fire his rocket, only to have huge claw impale him through the head. The battle ended there.

The clan leader's son, a few brawlers, and the disk master were the only ones to survive the battle. Each had accomplished their mission. In fact, the clan leader's son had retrieved 67 alien skulls, more than three times the minimum, and he had taken the skull of the traitor. But to him it didn't matter, for his father had died. Now he was the clan leader, and was soon feared throughout the universe. The humans named him "Hooks", after the large hooked gauntlets he wore in honor of his father. Hooks promised to himself that some day he would return, take the skull of the queen that had killed his father, and burn the hive to ashes. But for now he would rest, a hero amongst his pack.

Scarlet also had mixed feelings about the day. She had lost many children, including her favorite daughter. However, she achieved so much more! The blue aliens, which are now to be called ravagers, were a strong addition to the pack. She also had some other strong replacements for her fallen children, creatures that grew in power with every kill: Predaliens.


	4. Challenge of the Gro'Tek

****

Chapter 4: The Challenge of the Gro'Tek

It was not in the nature of a xenomorph to get cocky with success, and Scarlet was no exception. Every day she tried to make her hive larger. She trained her body and mind constantly to make sure her fighting skills were razor sharp; she'd never no when she'd need them. Scarlet also filled her hive with ravager aliens. Just because she had discovered the pheromone that turned praetorians into these monsters by mistake didn't mean she had forgotten it, and though it tired her out a lot, it was worth the pain. She kept the first four ravagers as her personal bodyguards. She also had twenty-six others which served various tasks: escorting weaker aliens on hunts, second to last line of defense for the hive, and fighting hard battles when the hive didn't need many aliens. Scarlet had also found another pheromone that allowed her to transform praetorians into carrier aliens. These aliens, though weak compared to the ravagers, were very lethal in battle. They were able to carry and feed twelve facehuggers at a time, lead them into the battlefield, and throw them at enemies. The queen could now make effective combatants even without a great host.

The predalien troop had evolved into powerful additions. Not a single member of this division of Scarlet's troop had died, for with every battle they improved in strength. Their hides would grow thicker and their muscles would grow larger with every molt until they had become nearly ungodly in power. It seemed like Scarlet's hive was unstoppable.

Well, nearly. She may have owned the planet, but the universe still belonged to many others. Scarlet and her kin, despite their great intelect, couldn't think of a way to fly. Luckily their prey continued to thrive, through Scarlet's foresight. Scarlet's hive protected the animals on her planet for the sole purpose of devouring them later.

The planet Scarlet lived on was unique. It was small in comparison to earth and had only one landmass on it which was barely large enough to be considered a continent. The rest of the planet consisted of water and tiny, scattered islands. Very few different species of animals lived on the planet; most of which were so simple that they could only produce drone aliens or praetorians. Occasionally Scarlet's children would bring back some of the planet's original predators, but they were dying out quickly.

Soon the true horror stories of the haunted planet on which Scarlet lived had become exaggerated to the extent of legends, including descriptions of Scarlet being "the largest, most viscous xenomorph ever with a cosmic power far beyond the comprehension of any mortal being, her brood gifted with an ungodly strength matched only by their queen". The only thing that truly separated Scarlet from other xenomorphs was her red crest and her intelect.

Nevertheless, these tall tales attracted Masich, a famous xenomorph trainer. He was a human with lots of money, most of which he gained by selling powerful and dangerous biological weapons, including live animals. He was famous for taking monstrous alien beasts, allowing them to be facehugged, and then selling the xenomorph that grew from there. He knew that xenomorphs took the strengths of their prey and then added their own, creating fearsome beasts as a result. He also knew how to subdue such creatures: with the pheromones of their queen. So the famous man hired the best bounty hunter his money could buy and then bought twenty different and savage beasts as hosts. If the myths about Scarlet were true then her children would make him a fortune!

The bounty hunter he hired was named Zumbren. The bounty hunter was clad in space titanium armor, wearing a very sombrero-like helmet. His armor hid his body and thus made it hard to determine what species he was, though his extra pair of arms and his two pairs of translucent wings hinted at some sort of insectoid creature. The bounty hunter was well known for hunting aliens and readily accepted Masich's proposal. Other than this and the many bounties the hunter had received in the past, none was known about Zumbren. He wanted to keep it that way.

Zumbren and Masich arrived on Scarlet's planet only three months after the queen had chased off Hooks' clan. The two quickly unloaded the first and strongest victim: a Gro'Tek, a monster that was sought as dangerous game by predators. Few hunters that faced even one of these monsters survived, and those who made it were considered to be the best of the best. The beast looked like a very, very, very large hairless gorilla. Its head was lizard-like and had five huge tusks at the very front of its mouth. Its claws were strong enough to tear through steel.

Gro'Teks loved to live in caves or burrows, usually stealing those that belonged to others. Nobody had ever witnessed one of these monsters fighting a xenomorph; but then again, few had ever witnessed one period.

Masich tagged the monster so he would know where to look for the hive. They followed the beast as it hunted in the forests of Scarlet's home. Suddenly the animal came upon a herd of kurns, small animals that look like a cross between a crocodile and a pig. The kurns tried to flee the Gro'Tek, but there was no escaping it.

There was also a pack of xenomorphs hunting the kurns. The pack consisted of three warriors, five drones, one predalien, and one ravager. The monsters snarled at this new, huge beast that had invaded their territory. The Gro'Tek was now their new prey item. One of the drones went back to the nest to bring back a carrier, for they were sure that the queen would love to add this new beast to her collection. Then they surrounded the creature, using the forest to their advantage. The predalien signaled for the others to attack, making sure that the ravager stayed behind. They all sprang out at the same time, leaping onto their cumbersome foe.

The Gro'Tek growled and crushed two of the drones with one blow. It grabbed one of the warriors and bit off its head, unaffected by its acidic blood. He proceeded to kill the remaining drones and turned his attention to the predalien and his remaining warriors. The ravager, seeing this moment of peril, ran to the rescue. The creature tried to decapitate the Gro'Tek, but his claw shattered upon impact with the creature's skin. The ravager squealed with pain and shock at his failure. The monster turned towards the wounded blue alien and slashed at it with his claw. The ravager collapsed, his brain majorly damaged. As the mantis-like alien cringed in pain on the ground, the predalien and the two warriors made a daring plan. They had only two advantages against the beast: speed and intelegence. One warrior quickly darted at the Gro'Tek, slashed at a part of its chest, then ran off before it could retaliate. A few minutes later the other alien did the same, then the predalien. The monsters continued to claw at the same spot on the Gro'Tek until the spot was soft and raw.

By now the drone had returned with the carrier alien. They saw the weak spot in the Gro'Tek's chest and immediately knew where to apply the force. The carrier grabbed one of the facehuggers, aimed carefully, and threw it at the weak spot. The facehugger implanted itself, sending a tranquilizer into the Gro'Tek.

They dragged the monster into the hive, unaware that they were doing exactly what Masich and Zumbren wanted.


	5. Invasion

****

Chapter 5: Invasion

The facehugged, or rather chesthugged, Gro'Tek had been dragged into the main area of the nest with Masich and Zumbren in close pursuit. Masich was in a marine exo-suit, a machine with acid proof armor and more weapons than you could shake a stick at. He had a trio of exo-suits that were on autopilot, all set with one primary mission: capture as many aliens as possible. The electro-net was a favorite choice in xenomorph capturing equipment because they could scratch through or destroy it with acid and because it would eventually knock them unconscious, thus why Masich armed all his machines with an almost uncountable amount of these nets. Zumbren wore nothing but his own armor.

The exo-suits entered the hive and were almost immediately met with retaliation. Four warriors and two other huge aliens who looked like rotweilers from a distance attacked Masich's suit. The suit fired six rounds at its opponents, capturing all the aliens in electro-nets. They continued through the nest, capturing most of the aliens before they could even reach the suits they planned to attack. Even the ravagers were of no use against the suits. In a matter of minutes they were in the treasure room of the alien hive: the egg chamber.

Zumbren had been following Masich's soldiers like a ninja, waiting for the moment at which he would be needed. As Masich captured most of the eggs and facehugger victims, including the Gro'Tek, Zumbren flew towards the back of the nest and towards the greatest prize of them all.

The insectoid alien found Scarlet with four ravagers and six praetorians. He lifted off his "sombrero", which turned out to be a small aircraft. Four guns sprouted from the hat, all modified with the electro-net technology. Zumbren didn't like the idea of taking xenomorphs alive, seeing as he was more of an exterminator than a monster wrangler. Still, Masich's money was good enough to make him switch roles. The insectoid stood back as his hat did the work, trapping the ravagers and the praetorians before they even noticed his prescense.

Scarlet had been dormant with her eggsack busily laying eggs. The queen would normally be awoken if there was a battle, since chaos would definitely insue if anything got close enough to the nest. But most of the xenomorphs had been put to sleep before they could make a sound of protest, and thus Scarlet was left unaware. The warmth of the nets made her wake up. The queen saw a flash of light, and then fell to the ground.

Scarlet woke up in a situation that seemed eerily familiar. She was in a dark room with only one exit, which just so happened to be blocked by a glowing blue barrier. Yes, this was a very similar situation indeed. There was even a glowing grid of lit-up buttons in the same spot as last time. Lights came on as two humanoid creatures walked into the room. One looked like the humans that Scarlet knew while the other seemed different, with legs that were two long, extra arms, and two pairs of wings.

__

"Maybe that one is a queen human." Scarlet thought. The humanoids began to speak.

"I still don't like this, Masich. These creatures are better off destroyed, not in cages. Why would you even try something like this?" the "queen" said.

"Zumbren, I've dealt with xenomorphs for years, and if there's one lesson I've learned from them it's that they make lots and lots and lots of money. And if this xenomorph and her brood are as powerful as the myths about them say, then I'll make even more. The risk is worth taking." Masich cheerfully replied.

Zumbren shook his head, spotting the egg that had been left out in the open. "Why did you leave that there? That is a hazard to our journey, to say the least!" Zumbren scowled.

Masich smiled. "Oh, it's there for a reason. Let me tell you how I usually do things. After capturing an entire hive, I cover myself in some of the pheromone secretions in the queen's spines to keep my merchandise from killing me. This gives me control of the hive, allowing me to order facehuggers to attack selected prey items. I am always having to find new, stronger prey for these aliens or else I'd lose business. So I said to myself,'Self, what would be a bold, new prey item for the market to buy?" Then I thought," Masich ordered the egg to hatch. "What about a bounty hunter?"

The facehugger launched from the egg and at Zumbren. The insectoid bounty hunter tried to dodge, but Masich had lowered the temperature of the room to keep the cold-blooded killer slow. Soon the insect fell to the ground, soon to be dead.

Masich turned to face Scarlet, who he knew was watching. He smiled. "You're quite a prize. That red crest of yours is stunning. Oh, don't think you'll be getting out of here. That light grid is just to distract you."

There was one alien that Masich hadn't captured. The ravager that had been almost killed by the Gro'Tek had awoken from its torpor. Ravagers were able to heal any wound if they went into a state of dormancy, which this one had done. The wound he had sustained from the Gro'Tek had left a green scar on his head.

Greenslash the ravager decided to return to his queen. Something was wrong, however. The scent of Scarlet came in the opposite direction of the hive. Greenslash knew that there would probably be a battle, which suited him well. The ravager began to head towards Masich's shuttle.

Masich was now in the lower levels of the ship, looking at his prey items. They were all fine specimens, including a few variants that he found rather interesting. The predaliens would probably be very well selling items, as would the ravagers. The facehugger in the Gro'Tek had turn into a human-sized chestburster, which was good news for Masich's wallet. He couldn't wait to see the outcomes of his other "prey items".

Masich's thoughts of greed were soon interrupted by a loud pounding sound coming from above. Masich took his elevator up to the pilot level of his shuttle to see what was going on. He saw Greenslash hacking away at his ship and smiled. No alien could break through his ship's tough armor.

However, nobody had ever seen a ravager alien before. The alien's claws were hard and sharp, and the battle with the Gro'Tek had made Greenslash's new claw even stronger. Masich climbed into his exo-suit to capture the alien, unaware that it had already gotten in.

Masich too the elevator down to the ship's lowest level to deal with his prey. The ravager was waiting for him. As the man in the pheromone hiding exo-suit stepped out to find the alien, he noticed the gaping hole in his ship's hull. Before the truth could dawn upon him, the ravager stepped out of the shadows and attacked. He chopped off the exo-suits arms, then decapitated what he thought was its head. The suit's "head" was actually its battery supply, which caused it to power down. Masich screamed as the lights went down and the oxygen in his suit shut off. The ravager figured out how to use the elevator as the human slowly suffocated to death.

The ravager went past the first seven floors, passing by his alien bretheren. He would rescue them after the queen. At last he reached her floor. Greenslash walked up to her cage, took one slash at the wall next to the barrier, and immediately saved his queen. Scarlet looked at her blue warrior and smiled (or whatever the alien equivalent is). The quickly flew through the floors, freeing all of Scarlet's children and taking the facehugged animals with them. Each floor of aliens organized into divisions; one group on the highest floor would go, then the next, then the next, and on until they reached the next floor. This way there would be no crowding in the elevator. When it was all done the aliens dragged the ship next to their hive's entrance, disguising it with leaves. This would be a fortress for any major battles: they'd allow the invaders to enter the hive, then the soldiers in the ship would run out and attack the invaders from behind as well as from the front.

The day ended with twenty-one new and powerful xenomorphs being born, including a gargantuan ogre-like xenomorph and a flying, dragonfly-like xenomorph. Scarlet smiled. The hive was getting even stronger.


	6. Alien Chess

****

Chapter 6: Alien Chess

Scarlet's life had returned to normal. Few dared to challenge the might of the legendary red queen, and those who did met with disastrous results and further strengthened the legend. One species, however, couldn't be daunted by such tales. There was one deadly, intelegent, and well-known species that knew nothing of Scarlet's no planet or how dangerous it was to be there.

A ship carrying such a species crashed on Scarlet's planet only a few months after the death of Masich. Hundreds of black shapes climbed out of the fiery wreckage, followed by a larger, even fiercer looking beast. The smoke cleared, revealing their identities: three hundred seventy-two warrior xenomorphs and one queen.

The queen hissed at her troops to begin building her hive. Ten warriors began scratching at the ground, spitting acid into the dirt to further dissolve it. They dug deeper and deeper, with thirty more xenomorphs ready to help establish the nest chamber when the tunnel was finished.

None of them were aware of who was watching them. A squad of Scarlet's aliens was sent to search the crash for hosts. The pack was shocked to find this new threat to the hive. If the aliens hadn't come with a queen, they would have been welcomed to Scarlet's hive. But there could only be one queen. Oddly enough, the opposing queen had a white portion of her crest. This wasn't a mutation like Scarlet's, but instead a normal genotype in the alien species, and a sure sign that there would be no chance of peace. The squad left to tell Scarlet of their discovery while the white queen's minions burrowed further into the ground.

Scarlet overheard the squad's story and began to deliberate what her move would be. Should she strike the opposing hive while they were digging? No, their numbers were too great. She would wait for the white queen to send her pawns out to gather hosts, then attack the squads. If the squads went missing, the white queen would send bigger squads to investigate. If she did that, Scarlet would send bigger squads to wipe out those squads, and so on until the white queen's hive was whittled down to nothing. Scarlet had the advantage: She knew the territory better and had many, many tricks up her sleeve.

The following morning went according to plan. Scarlet sent troops out to hide and ambush the white queen's scouts, which comprised of only drones and warriors. Scarlet won these battles without a single death, mainly because her soldiers consisted of more than just drones and warriors. The predaliens all returned much stronger than before, a good omen.

The next day went just as well, mainly because Scarlet had sent one ravager out with every group. The ravagers enjoyed this kind of fighting; aliens couldn't be facehugged, so Scarlet wasn't mad at them for killing their prey outright.

However, something had happened that Scarlet didn't expect. A drone, sent out to find food, accidentally stumbled on one of Scarlet's troops. The drone didn't recognize them and decided to return to his queen and report his finding.

The white queen now knew what had happened to her missing soldiers. She snarled in fury. Tomorrow she would send out one hundred of her troops to find the nest of her opponent.

Scarlet's first group of warriors exited the tunnel only to find one hundred warriors heading their way. The squad screamed in terror and ran back into the hive to tell and protect their red queen.

Scarlet snarled at the idea. Then she remembered her newest trick. She sent one of her drones up one of the hive's many other tunnels, the one that led to what was once Masich's ship. The drone told the aliens hiding in the ship to prepare for battle. The various xenomorphs looked out the hidden windows at the advancing alien army. This surprise troop waited for the white queen's army to disappear into the tunnel that led to Scarlet's hive. When that happened they would sneak out of the ship and into the very same tunnel, blocking the army's only escape route.

Five of the hundred xenomorphs that were sent by the white queen turned back; their mission was to find the nest and tell their queen of it, so in case the army that she sent didn't return she'd know take matters into her own hands. Though most of her hunting parties hadn't returned, the ones that did were very successful. As the 95 xenomorphs army descended into the gloom, the surprise army jumped out of their hiding spot and followed.

All day you could only hear the sound of screams, roars, and dying groans as the forces clashed in the hive. Scarlet's surprise army returned to their posts in Masich's lair, having lost only thirteen soldiers. Scarlet had won this battle with her cunning and superior forces, but she knew it wasn't over. She told Greenslash, her favorite ravager, to reposition the troops in whatever way he saw fit. This pleased the ravager, for while he wasn't good at recreating troops, he was good at making them more lethal.

The queen had thought out her move today very carefully. If Scarlet was able to set up her ambushes, that would have left her hive weaker and thus allowed the one hundred xenomorph army to wipe her out. If Scarlet fought the army, then the white queen's hunting parties would have been able to hunt successfully. By the tomorrow her troops would regain their original number, she would go out with them and confront her foe, fighting till only one army was left standing.

The white queen left early in the morning for the battle, her troops well rested. They marched through the forest, leaving fallen trees and other debris in their wake. Animals screamed in terror as they ran to escape the deadly army.

Scarlet stood very close to the front of her army, with only her ravager bodyguards in front of her. Drones and warriors hung from the ceiling, waiting to sneak attack the invading army from above.

At last the white queen entered the hive, safely in the center of her army. Ordered her soldiers to leave the other queen alone: she wanted to kill the bitch personally. As soon as the other army was in sight, Scarlet ordered her forces to charge. Scarlet did her best to ignore the cries of pain from her children as she charged into battle, her ravagers cutting through the opposing ranks towards the white queen. If she killed this opponent, then the battle would be practically over. Scarlet could see her surprise troops jumping into the battle, another good sign.

The hive was chaotic. The tunnel would have certainly collapsed if Scarlet's drones hadn't placed hive nodes all over it, covering it in acid proof alien spores. These spores healed Scarlet's brood during the battle, another advantage that Scarlet had over the opposing force. The white queen ordered all the xenomorphs behind her to come in front and block Scarlet's advance, only to find that the xenomorphs behind her were now corpses, replaced by Scarlet's surprise army. She now knew that she had lost. Scarlet made her way through the ranks at the shocked white queen, who was still gazing in dread at the unwelcome sight behind her. She turned around, only to have her head torn off by the red queen.

Checkmate.

A spaceship hovered above the planet, observing Scarlet's victory. The ship was filled with humans, including one very famous scientist. This scientist had pre-ordered the aliens that Masich had tried to create, and many years earlier had sent troops to capture a praetorian or queen alien from this very planet. Now he watched the prey that had eluded him so many times pass another one of his tests. He had sent the white queen to Scarlet's homeworld, and was now reassured by the battle that was occurring of her power. He laughed to himself and prepared his next move.


	7. Scarlet Hooks

****

Chapter 7: Scarlet Hooks

Hooks stepped into a large, dark room. The floor was made entirely of sand. The predator waited for someone to speak.

"Enter clan leader." gurgled one of the hidden members of the room. "You have been summoned to undertake a very, very important mission. Because of your valor in the hunt, we have chosen you for this job as only you can do it."

Hooks had been busy since his encounter with Scarlet. The predator had decided to avenge his father by wiping out the red queen's lair, but this would require a predator force the likes of which nobody had ever seen, a force that could only be assembled by a great clan leader. So Hooks set out to prove himself by breaking many predator records. He was famous for taking dangerous missions and using as few predators as possible to accomplish them. At one point he single-handedly killed and took the skulls of three Gro'Teks, a truly remarkable feat as the previous record took five predators to take down one. Hooks had also beaten his father's record by capturing 98 alien queen skulls, knowing which skull he would take as his 100th.

The elder spoke again, "A predator has been captured, alive, by humans. According to our laws he must be destroyed for the pride of our clan. I ask you to do your duty: kill the predator and the humans that captured him, and take their skulls back. If you accomplish this task, the rewards will be great."

Hooks nodded in reply and began his hunt.

Scarlet slept in her hive, her head retracted into her crown. The many worker aliens buzzed around the hive, taking hosts into the nest, hunting the planet's many prey items. Scarlet had allowed some of the strong animals that Masich had brought with him to breed, and as a result the planet was constantly full of stronger hosts. The hive was thriving.

One of the various scouting troops that consisted of a Carrier alien and two drones stumbled upon a huge aircraft. The doors of the spaceship opened, revealing something all too familiar to the aliens: exo-suits. This time there was more than one; indeed, there was practically an army of them! Dozens of suits began to march through the forest, searching for aliens. The scout troop tried to escape, but they were soon discovered and trapped.

Mere minutes later, Scarlet was awoken by a panicking drone alien that clambered into the nest screeching a warning. The aliens rose to attack the new threat, only to be thwarted by the exo-suit army. Their claws weren't sharp enough to slice through the new version's armor, and soon nearly half the nest was in nets. The surprise army tried to attack the robotic weapons, only to be met by an opposing sneak attack by the remaining members of the army. Even the ravagers were stopped dead in their tracks. Scarlet snarled as her attempts at security, her traps, her tricks, all of her ingenious ideas were defeated by four dozen acid proof humanoid tanks. She closed her eyes as an electro-net fell upon her...

The queen alien woke up in a white room of a space ship. There were a few cameras in the room, four windows about twenty feet above her, but no doors. She wondered how she had gotten into the room.

A man walked up to one of the windows. He was Dr. Rupert Spenalzo, a famous scientist when it came to xenomorph biology. Spenalzo, though a genius according to human standards, was a bit... odd. The man had insisted in putting an intercom in Scarlet's room, despite the fact that the alien queen couldn't understand a word he would say.

"What a magnificent specimen you are." the scientist cooed. "That red crest is stunning. We've been studying you for hours, you know. According to xenomorph intelegence tests, you border on the lines of a super genius! Do you understand that? We're not sure if it has anything to do with your crest or not, but it doesn't really matter if it does or doesn't."

Scarlet tried to jump and attack the man, but was caught in midair by a robotic hand that seemed to stem from nowhere.

"Tut tut!" Spenalzo laughed. "You can't escape, my dear. That robotic hand has been programmed to grab you in case you break the invisible barrier I've set up. Now why don't you lay some eggs or something?"

In the other room, a group of scientists were studying a captive predator. They had drugged the monster to keep it from trying to escape or commit suicide during their operations. Unknown to them, an invisible fiend had entered the room. Their screams off pain were short, mainly because their killer made a point of decapitating them. The predator turned off his cloaking mechanism, revealing his hooked gauntlets.

The predator on the table chuckled (an effect of the gas) as his "savior" approached. Hooks rammed two hooks into the throat of his fellow predator, tearing off the filth's skull. He continued to mutilate the creature.

Then he turned to the one scientist he had left alive, saying in a gurgling voice, "Grwhere isr your lreaderg?"

The scientist stumbled through his words, "H... he... he's in the next r... rroom!"

Hooks scowled as he tore apart the human, turned on his cloaking device, and jumped up into the ventilation shaft that would pass into the next room.

When he jumped out of the ventilation shaft he was instantly surrounded by four exo-suits. The suits armed their pulse lazers as a man in a white lab coat chuckled.

"Sorry, it seems I've broken your little predator code, or should I say codes. I'm using the genetics that I extracted from your now deceased friend (who I assume you've killed) to create something nobody has ever thought possible: a predalien queen. They say only pureblood aliens, a.k.a ones derived from praetorian eggs, can become queens. And without my tampering, that would have been true. But by combining a queen alien's DNA, a predator's, and for good measure, a predalien's, I was able to accomplish the impossible: a Predalien queen! Think of it: a queen that grows stronger with each battle _and_ produces offspring with the same trait. Predwarriors, preddrones, predfacehuggers, you name it! The ultimate weapon! We'll use it to fight your species first." Spenalzo was laughing maniacally now. "We'll kill you all! We'll wipe you species from existence by using your own DNA against you! AHA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Dr. Spenalzo snapped his fingers, which caused the exo-suits to throw Hooks through the front window. He screamed as he fell through the glass, holding onto the window frame with his oversized, hooked gauntlets.

Scarlet saw her chance. The red queen jumped and grabbed Hooks' feet, using her tail to chop the robotic hand in half. The giant alien used Hooks like a ladder, jumping into the room to confront her human nemesis. Hooks was pissed at the alien: he'd kill her next. He strained to lift himself up. Then something unexpected happened. Scarlet's tail slithered out the window towards Hooks and then went still, as though it was waiting for the predator to grab on. Hooks, already bewildered and confused, decided to forget his logical warnings against doing such a thing and grabbed on. Scarlet lifted the predator into the room. It was uncharacteristic of an alien to show pity, compassion, or gratitude, but then there were lots of things that made Scarlet different from her species.

The dangerous duo began to search for the doctor. At last they spotted him and the four exo-suits in an elevator. The two monsters ran to stop him, but they were too late. Then they spotted another elevator right next to the one Spenalzo was using. Scarlet ran toward it and pressed the "down" button (she had figured out how to use this machine when Masich attacked). The doors opened and she got in. Hooks, on the other hand, hesitated. If he went with the red queen, he'd be working _with_ his archenemy, a most displeasing idea. However, if he didn't he'd fail the mission, which was also a very painful thought. He decided that working with her wasn't as bad as failing the mission, and thus the truce was struck.

A human was in the elevator that Scarlet and Hooks had decided to use. Scarlet ignored him; she was a queen and as such it wasn't her job to collect hosts, so attacking the man didn't seem like a priority to her. Hooks had already used his sophisticated predator technology to tell whether the human had ever come in contact with the captured predator. Since the human hadn't, Hooks didn't have to kill him and decided not to. So the three species sat there in the elevator. The human, who was scared to death, was relieved when his floor finally came. He left the elevator and looked back at Hooks and Scarlet, who waved at him (Hooks knew it was a human custom and made Scarlet do it).

They had gone through each floor searching for the man. Scarlet wanted to kill him for locking her up. Finally they came to the deepest basement of the space shuttle. There was Spenalzo in a gigantic exo-suit, looking very smug.

"Scarlet and Hooks, the legends of their species. Each are named as powerful forces, embodiments of death. I don't believe in fables. So let's see how you two can deal with a new legend... THE PREDALIEN ARMY!" cackled the mad scientist as he opened a huge door.

From that door fled hundreds of aliens. At first glance they looked just like normal aliens, only brown. But there was a very apparent difference the closer they got towards Scarlet and Hooks. There were hundreds of different types of aliens: warriors, drones, dog aliens, dragaliens, Gro'Tek aliens, and more. But they all looked like they had hybridized with both the host it would take to make them (human, dog, dragonfly-humanoid, Gro'Tek, etc.) _and_ a predator. The last one out of the door was what pissed Scarlet off the most: a Predalien queen. Scarlet and Hooks charged into battle, slashing and tearing at their foes. Hooks was wearing xenomorph-proof armor just in case he had to face such a foe, and was glad because of it. What the doctor had done was an abomination, for predator DNA wasn't supposed to be messed with. The famous predator knew what he had to do: kill all the predaliens.

Spenalzo stood there laughing in his alien-proof exo-suit, unaware that the Predalien queen was behind him. She cackled as she broke through the glass plate that kept Spenalzo safe from outside attack. The scientist's laughter turned into screams as the queen tore him apart from inside the suit. As he was being mauled he accidentally hit the suit's self-destruct button.

There was a huge explosion that ripped through the area, killing almost all of the predaliens. The shock waves ended just a few meters away from Scarlet and Hooks, leaving them and a few predaliens alive. Hooks finished off these few, then spotted the wounded yet still alive queen in the dust. The predator rushed towards her and tore out her skull, returning to Scarlet's side. She cooed at Hooks and headed back to the elevator.

An alarm had been blaring ever since the explosion happened. The exo-suit's self destruct had been such a violent force that it ruptured one of the ship's power generators which were just underneath the final basement. The engine was about to explode in ten minutes. As the humans scrambled to their escape pods, Scarlet and Hooks reached the loading dock/shuttle parking area of the crashing ship. Hooks jumped into his ship and escaped into the blackness of space with his prizes: Spenalzo, the Predalien Queen, and the traitor's skulls. Scarlet sat in the loading dock and waited for the ship to crash. She had survived a crash before, so this one probably wouldn't stop her.

Scarlet strolled out of the burning wreckage of the crash site to find her hive returning to normal. Apparently the humans had tried to keep the entire hive captive on the planet while they waited for a larger ship to come take the dangerous cargo. Greenslash led a group of escape xenomorphs and, in a terrific and bloody battle, liberated the entire hive. Scarlet hadn't made any untransformed praetorian aliens as of late, so nobody was able to take her place as the hive's queen, so the hive had had to wait and pray for her safe return. Their prayers had been answered, for Scarlet was home. The red queen purred as the feeble minded humans who had tried to subdue her hive were being transformed into a new generation of warriors.

What a great day.

Hooks sat in his bed chamber. Ninety-nine queen skulls were finally his. It was time for another hunt: the biggest hunt known to predator kind.


	8. The Big Finish

****

Chapter 8: The Big Finish

Hooks stood in front of seven other clans, their leaders watching his every move. The predator was a little nervous, but the furious desire to claim Scarlet's head burned in him so much that his fear was forgotten.

"My fellow Yajuta," Hooks began his speech, "For countless years we have hunted many creatures in the name of honor. One species has always provided us the greatest hunt: the xenomorphs. I have been to the planet of doom, where the red xenomorph queen reigns supreme. And I know of her brood, I know of their power. Her hive would supply us with the greatest hunt. I, who has killed three Gro'teks singlehandedly, I, who has captured 99 xenomorph queen skulls, now stand before you with a hunt of unimagined honor. On the planet of the red queen, there are monsters beyond your imagination. Creatures with huge blades for hands, xenomorphs that fly, and even Gro'tek aliens. Can we deny ourselves the honor of hunting this ultimate game?

"I asked you here, my honorable comrads, to join me in the ultimate hunt. A hunt where even those who die in battle shall die with honor. Join me in conquest and honor."

The clans unanimously agreed to join in the hunt.

Seven huge predator spaceships hovered over Scarlet's planet. They shot pod after pod after pod of predators onto the planet until there was a virtual army of them: fifty predators from each clan.

Hooks led the assault, covered in his new armor made from Gro'Tek skin. The skin was flexible, acid-proof and resistant to damage from weapons like claws and teeth. His hooks were the only part of his old armor that he had kept.

The predator army sent seven young predators into the hive to lure out the aliens. The youths entered the hive full of confidence, but just ten minutes later five of them were running out of the hive to the rest of their clans. The other two didn't make it out.

The army stood outside the hive, waiting. A scurrying sound was coming out of the hole, getting louder by the second. The sound kept growing and growing. The predators walked closer to the hive...

Hundreds of xenomorphs flooded out of the hive. They attacked the predators, spitting acid at them until they got close enough to use their claws and teeth. The clans chopped their way through this first wave, all the while thinking that Hooks had duped them. These weren't the strong monsters of legend; they were simple drones and warrior aliens, nothing new or special.

This mind-set was quickly proved false when the first ravager came out of the hive. The monster hacked his way through seventeen predators before he was taken down. Ten more came out of the hive, followed by the Gro'tek alien. The clans struggled against them.

The five remaining young predators were getting the hang of things. They hacked through the warriors and drones, laughing as they easily defeated the monsters. The largest (and most cocky) youth was suddenly confronted by a strange xenomorph: it looked like a warrior but it had two pair of arms. Suddenly two pairs of wings appeared from its back and it grabbed the juvenile predator, flying into the air with its prey. The Juvenile tried to kill it, but the xenomorph had him in his clutches. Eventually he was stabbed by the monster's stinger-tipped tail, and it was over.

The flying xenomorph carried the predator into the hive, laying him down next to an egg. Scarlet watched as the new host was facehugged, Greenslash standing at her side. She asked the dragalien how the fight was going. He replied by saying that they needed more xenomorphs. Scarlet nodded and ordered two of the ravagers to guard her praetorian daughters. She led Greenslash and the other ravagers into battle.

Meanwhile, a drone had finally reached the xenomorphs that were lying in wait in Masich's ship. He told them that the queen had ordered them to attack. The xenomorph bonus army smiled. Each one of them headed for the windows and doors of the ship, jumping out to join the fray.

Hooks stood over a pile of xenomorph skulls, waiting for the queen to come out. The other clans knew that only he was allowed to kill the queen, and they respected his order. He slayed each xenomorph that came near him with relative ease; he was the one that had killed the first ravager.

Finally he saw her. Hooks jumped on one of the pred-guns, a huge flying craft used by predators when fighting large opponents, and headed for Scarlet. Two huge mechanical arms came out of the gun and plucked Scarlet from the ground. He flew away from the conflict with his captured prey. The xenomorphs tried to follow, but the predators kept them from leaving. Greenslash wondered if his queen would be all right.

They landed somewhere in the forest, away from the conflict. Scarlet snarled at Hooks, remembering his smell. She wondered why he, her ally in the past, had now betrayed her. The predator jumped off his pred-gun and walked over towards Scarlet.

The fight of the legends began.

The battle was over. Of the 350 predators that had landed on the planet, only sixteen returned. The battle devastated the area around the hive, destroying over 400 miles of forest. The large battle eventually broke up into several smaller battles, dividing the xenomorphs and predators from the rest of their armies.

Greenslash was waiting with the 237 new predaliens in the hive to see what other members had survived. The Gro'tek alien was the first to return, followed by only half of the original predaliens (all of which were now much, much stronger). Fifty-seven warrior and drone aliens returned to the hive, most of which were nearly dead. The dragalien, which had lost one leg and all of its wings, followed. The two mastiff aliens tat had once been pit bulls came after that, along with seven ravagers.

In truth, Greenslash could care less about them. He only wanted to see his queen. After a couple hours passed without sight of any other survivors the ravager gave up hope.

He was about to reach the egg chamber when he heard a faint moaning sound. He turned around, smelling a familiar scent entering the hive. Greenslash ran towards the entrance and was greeted by a battle-damaged Scarlet.

The queen's left leg didn't have a foot. Her tiny pair of secondary arms had bee torn off, and three of her back-spikes had been damaged. One of her hands had lost all but two fingers, and blood was dripping from her mouth. Her crown was bleeding and damaged in many areas, but her red crest remained as radiant and beautiful as ever.

Scarlet limped into the hive before collapsing in a heap on the ground. Greenslash picked her up and carried her back into throne room. Scarlet cooed at her blue night, falling asleep in his mantis-like arms. Her wounds would heal, the hive would be rebuilt, and soon everything would be back to normal.

Exactly how the battle turned out was unknown. Hooks was presumed dead by his clan, but his legend lived on. The aliens of the planet were also honored by predator legend. From that day on no predator would hunt Scarlet's brood, for they had proven to be as fierce and honorable in combat as the predators themselves.

Centuries later a human expedition was made to the planet. They found, amongst other things, a strange grave. A dead predator covered in rotting armor and with two hooks on each arm was buried in a pit that had been made by acid. Buried with him were two queen xenomorph arms. They also discovered Scarlet's hive, which had been abandoned. Masich's ship had also disappeared, and in its place were burn marks that were very similar to those found on space shuttle take off sites. The mysteries of what happened to Scarlet's brood and the strange predator grave were never solved.

****

The End


End file.
